“Officers, can you ask her the questions here? I feel like someone needs to be with her,” adds Gill. Lauren looks up at him and smiles sweetly, and they don’t stop looking at each other even after Sawyer agrees to the request. They’re just staring at each other. It’s freaky.
“Tell us what happened today.” Officer Sawyer has pulled out a notebook from his breast pocket and a pen from somewhere else. He pauses waiting for my response.
“I think we should be doing it at the station.” Martinez is definitely perturbed.
“Okay, well, I went home to grab my jewelry supplies?—”
“Where were you previously?”
I realize that I need to back up with the story. “I was staying at Sam’s. I’ve been at Sam’s since I was released from the hospital—after the serial killer stabbed me in the park.” Sawyer nods encouragingly.
“Anyway, I’ve been feeling better and I wanted to work on my jewelry pieces. Sam was at work, so I took a taxi to my apartment to get my things. I was going to run in, get my jewelry-making supplies, and go right back to Sam’s. But when I got there, I called Sam and we had an argument. A few minutes later, I heard a knock at the door. I thought it was Sam because we’d had that argument over the phone.”
“So, you and Sam had an argument?”
Are you an idiot, Sawyer? I already said that. “Uh-huh. Anyway, I?—”
“What was the argument about?”
Seriously? Do they really need to know this stuff? “It’s a long story.”
“We’ve got time,” Sawyer deadpans. Damn it. I thought he was onmyside.
“Fine. Well, when I got to my house, my stuff was gone.”
“Stuff?” asks Martinez.
“Yeah. My stuff. My furniture, my shelves, my doodads. You know? Mystuff.”
“Where was it?”
“I don’t know.” I still don’t know. “I called Sam to tell him I’d been robbed. I was upset. My Pops, he, uh, built a lot of my things,”
Lauren wraps her arm around me and gives me a light squeeze.
“Continue.” That comes from Sawyer. He’s getting to be just like his partner.
“I called Sam to tell him I’d been robbed. He told me I wasn’t robbed—that he’d cleaned out my place.
“What?” screeches Lauren. “Are you serious?”
I nod but turn back to the cops. “I, um, told him he was too controlling and I didn’t want to see him again, and then I hung up.”
“Damn straight, girlfriend.” I look over and see Sam’s mom with her hands on her hips and an angry expression on her face. “That son of mine can be so damn heavy-handed. Not to mention stubborn as a mule.”
“It’s not what you think,” adds Gill.
“What isn’t what she thinks?” Lauren snaps. “That herex-boyfriend wasn’t trying to control her life?”
Looking at Lauren, Gill says, “Babe. It’s not what you think. That’s all I can say.”
Babe?Did he just call my best friendbabe? She’s going to go ballistic. She hates it when guys say “condescending, macho bullshit” like that. Her words, not mine.
“Oh, okay,” she says, smiling sweetly at Gill.
What the hell?
“Can you please continue?” Martinez says curtly.
